Elevator-hatchway closure.



PATBNTED JUNE 12, 1906.

v J. w. McGHBE. ELEVATOR HATGHWAY CLOSURE.

APPLICATION FILED 0GT.31, 1905.

, X H t 2J5 Inventor.

Attorneys UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. MOGHEE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO ROBERT J. HOTALING AND ONE-FOURTH TO JOHN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

J. BERNARD, OF

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 12, 1906.

Application filed October 31, 1905. Serial No. 285,335.

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN W. McGrrEE, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Elevator-Hatchway Closure, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to closures for elevator-hatchways; and it has particular reference to that class of automatic closures which are operated and controlled by the elevatorcar in its ascent and descent.

- The objects of the present invention, which may be regarded as an improvement on the device for which Letters Patent of the United States, No. 806,699, were issued to me on the 5th day of December, 1905, are to simplify and improve the construction of the closure and operation of the same.

Further objects are to provide improved latch or locking means for the closure and operating means for the same.

With these and other ends in view, which will readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the improved construction and novel arrangement and combination of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompan ng drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectiona view taken through an elevator-hatchway equipped with the improved closure and operating means, only one side of said hatchway being shown. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view looking upward in the direction of the closure. Fig. 3 is a side elevation.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are indicated throughout by similar characters of reference.

1 designates the elevator shaft or well.

2 2 are the guide-rails which are mounted upon the uprights or supports 3 3.

The hatch-closure is composed of two half doors or sections 4 4, each of which is securely mounted upon a shaft 5, said shafts extending transversely across the hatchway and provided with wheels or rollers 6, movable upon tracks 7, which are supported adjacent to the sides of the hatchway. Each of said shafts is provided at the ends thereof with radiallyextending arms 8, pivotally connected with the outer ends of links 9, the inner ends of which are pivotally connected, as at 10, with the uprights orguide-rail supports 3.

The guide-rail supports 3 are provided with brackets 11, affording bearings for vertically-disposed shafts 12 and 13, the former i and 19, connected with the elevator-car 20 at suitable points near the lower and upper ends of the same.

The shafts 12 and 13 are provided at their proximate ends with radial arms 21 22, con

nected with each other by means of a link 23, wherebysaid shafts will be caused to move in unison. The shaft 13 is provided with an additional arm 24, extending in the opposite direction to the arm 22. The arms 21 and 24 of the shafts 12 13 are connected each by means of a link 25 with the free end of an arm 26, terminating at its opposite end in a sleeve or collar 27, said sleeves or collars being supported for rotation upon the shafts 5.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings the car 20 has been shown in descending position, the rollers 18 being about to pass out of engagement with the spiral flange 16, connected with the rock-shaft 12. By the downward movement of the car to this point the rock-shaft 12 has been oscillated to the extent of one-fourth of a revolution, said motion being transmitted by the link 23 to the rock-shaft 13, with the result. of moving the shafts 5, carrying the doors or closures 4, toward the sides of the hatchway, said shafts 5 being simultaneously rocked by means of the arms 8 and links 9, thus swinging the doors to the open position illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings. 1 The parts then being in the position illustrated in Fig. 3 the continued descent of the elevatorcar will be unobstructed and presently the rollers 19 near the upper end of the elevatorcar will pass into engagement with the flange 17, connected with the rock-shaft 13, thus causing the positions of the rock-shafts to be reversed and the doors or sections of the hatch or closure to be restored to a closed position, it being obvious, of course, that the flanges 16 and 17 are oppositely disposed or wound with relation to their respective supporting-shafts. The car, it will thus be seen, will open the hatchway when it approaches the same and automatically close the hatch after passing, the operation being practically the same whether the elevator-car moves in a downward or in an upward direction.

For the purpose of securing the doors or closure members 4 1 in a closed position pivoted latch members, as 28, are employed, said latch members being mounted upon the sides of the uprights 3 3 and adapted to be engaged by hook members 29, connected with the doors 4 4. The free ends of the latch members 28 are connected by links 29 with bell-crank levers 30, fulcrumed upon the uprights 3 and carrying rollers or wheels 31, which are disposed in the path of a track 32 upon the elevator-car. When the doors 4 are closed, their inner edges will be supported upon the latch members 28. When the ascending or descending car reaches a point where the track member 32, which is o positely beveled, as shown, engages one of t e rollers 31, the bell-crank lever supporting said roller will be tilted, and the latch member 28 will likewise be tilted and thrown out of engagement with the hook member 29 upon the door engaged by said latch member, thus releasing the door and leaving it free to swing open under the impulse of the mechanism hereinbefore described.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings hereto annexed, the operation and advantages of this invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which it appertains. The construction is simple and thoroughly eflicient for the purposes for which it is designed.

It is desired to be understood that in the practical construction of this invention various minor changes as to form, proportion, and exact manner of assemblage of parts may be made, and hence it is desired to reserve the right to such changes as may be made by a skilled mechanic within the scope of the invention and without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the e'lliciency of the same.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. In a device of the class described, a closure including a door, a rock-shaft supporting said door, track-engaging wheels upon said rock-shaft, tracks supporting said wheels, arms securely connected with the rock-shaft, links pivotally connecting said arms with stationary points, and means for moving the rock-shaft upon the tracks.

2. A door member, a shaft supporting the same and having antifriction-rollers, supporting-tracks for said rollers, bearings for said shaft including collars having radially-extending arms, a rock-shaft supported at right angles to the rock-shaft carrying the door member, connecting means between the two rock-shafts for moving the door-carrying rock-shaft in a horizontal plane when the rock-shaft connected therewith is oscillated upon its axis, and means for oscillating the door-carrying rock-shaft upon its axis so as to tilt the door while it is being moved in a horizontal plane.

3. A closure including two door members mounted upon horizontal rock-shafts, supporting-tracks upon which said rock-shafts may move in an approximately horizontal plane, means for moving said rock-shafts upon the tracks, and means for simultaneously tilting said rock-shafts upon their axes.

4. A closure including two door members, rock-shafts tiltingly supporting the door members, supporting-tracks, track-engaging rollers upon the rock-shafts, a pair of rockshafts supported approximately at right angles to the door-supporting rock-shafts one being above and the other below the closure, arms upon the proximate ends of the rockshafts, a link connecting said arms, an oppositely-extending auxiliary arm u on one of the rock-shafts, arms having col ars loosely engaging the door-supporting rock-shafts, links connecting said arms with arms extending oppositely from the shafts at right angles to the door-supporting rock-shafts, spiral flanges u p on the latter shafts, a movable car having ange-engaging rollers, fixed arms extending radially from the door-supporting rock-shafts, and links connecting said arms with relatively fixed points.

5. A hatchway-closure comprising a pair of tiltingly and slidably supported door members, and means for simultaneously tilting and sliding said door members in opposite directions.

6. A hatchway-closure comprising a pair of tiltingly and slidably supported door members, and means for simultaneously tilting and sliding said door members in opposite directions, in combination with latch means supporting the inner edges of the door members, when closed, and means for automatic ally operating said latch members when the door members are moved to an open position.

7. A hatchway-closure comprising a pair of tiltingly and slidably supported door members, and means for simultaneously tilting and sliding said door members in opposite directions in combination with uprights formcar adapted for engagement with the rollers 10 ing guides, latch members pivoted upon said upon the latch-operating bell-cranks.

uprights, latch enga ing members upon the In testimony that I claim the foregoing as door members, bel -crank levers pivoted my own I have hereto affixed my signature in upon the uprights above and below the latch the presence of two Witnesses.

members, inks connecting the bell-cranks l JOHN W. MOGHEE. With the latch members, rollers supported Witnesses: upon the bell-cranks, a vertically-movable R. J. HOTALING,

car, and a double-beveled track upon said W. H. BECKER. 

